SPOS #987 - Cindy Anderson On The ROI Of Thought Leadership
Release Date: 06/08/2025
Navigate Hidden Markets With Judd Kessler - TWMJ #1015
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1015 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a moment when scarcity shapes everything from opportunity to attention, understanding who gets what (and why) has become one of the most consequential questions in modern life. is the inaugural Howard Marks Endowed Professor at the , an award-winning economist, and one of the leading thinkers in market design, public policy and behavioral economics. His research examines how rules, incentives, and institutional structures shape outcomes in environments where price alone cannot (or should not) decide...
info_outline
Creators And Entrepreneurs With Joe Pulizzi - TWMJ #1014
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1014 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a moment when careers feel increasingly precarious and algorithms quietly dictate how value is created and captured, it’s worth learning from someone who has spent more than two decades helping creators and entrepreneurs reclaim ownership of their work and their futures. is the founder of multiple influential startups, including , the and is widely recognized as the person who first coined the term “content marketing” in 2001, long before it became an industry unto itself. A bestselling...
info_outline
Emotionally Intelligent Teams With Vanessa Urch Druskat - TWMJ #1013
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1013 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a time when organizations are wrestling with fractured cultures, hybrid work, and teams struggling to stay connected, it helps to learn from someone who has spent three decades proving that collaboration is not a personality trait but a designed environment, which is why this episode turns to the work of , an award-winning researcher, educator at the , and one of the world’s leading experts on team emotional intelligence. Vanessa has devoted her career to understanding how teams actually function in...
info_outline
Facing Fear And Finding Purpose With Ranjay Gulati - TWMJ #1012
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1012 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). Amid a moment when uncertainty defines every industry and leaders everywhere are confronting fear disguised as strategy, it is worth turning to someone who has spent his career decoding how individuals and organizations find the courage to act, which is why this week’s guest, , offers such rare authority. Ranjay is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor at , a globally recognized organizational sociologist, bestselling author, and one of the world’s most cited scholars on leadership,...
info_outline
Why Great Teams Beat Star Talent With Jon Levy - TWMJ #1011
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1011 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). We tend to romanticize leadership as an act of personal brilliance, but the deeper story is often about the people who understand what truly moves human beings toward one another. has built a career around that question. A renowned human behavioral scientist, consultant and creator of the long-running - a global, invitation-only experiment where guests cook together anonymously to dissolve status cues and foster authentic connection - Jon has spent over fifteen years studying why people bond,...
info_outline
Why Authenticity Is Overrated With Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic - TWMJ #1010
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1010 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). What if the search for our “true selves” has been leading us away from who we actually need to become? That’s the tension at the heart of ’s work, a globally respected authority on people analytics, talent, leadership, and the Human–AI interface whose career spans , , , , , and decades of research that have shaped how organizations understand human behavior. His latest book, challenges one of the most cherished modern beliefs - that success comes from projecting our raw, unfiltered selves - and...
info_outline
Beyond Flying Cars And Futurist Myths With Nick Foster - TWMJ #1009
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1009 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). The future isn’t something to predict... it’s something to practice. Few people embody that idea more completely than , a designer, futurist and author whose work has quietly influenced some of the most innovative companies on the planet - from , , and to , where he served as head of design. In his new book, , Nick challenges the way we imagine what comes next. Rather than offering forecasts, he explores four mindsets - could, should, might, and don’t - that shape how individuals and organizations...
info_outline
Radical Humanness In The Age of AI With Henrik Werdelin - TWMJ #1008
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1008 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). What if artificial intelligence didn’t just build faster startups... but redefined what it means to be an entrepreneur? has been exploring that question for years. As the co-founder of (the company behind and the new ) and (the startup studio that helped launch ventures like , , and ), Henrik (who also has a great podcast called, ) has spent his career creating businesses that live at the intersection of creativity, community and technology. Now, with his new book , he’s rethinking...
info_outline
In Praise Of The Office WIth Peter Cappelli - TWMJ #1007
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1007 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). The debate over hybrid work has become one of the most emotionally charged topics in business... but few people have studied it as deeply as , the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at the and Director of its . In his latest book, , co-authored with , Peter challenges the idea that remote work is the inevitable future of knowledge work. Drawing from decades of research and real-world case studies, he argues that while technology has allowed us to untether from our desks, it has also quietly eroded...
info_outline
Epic Disruptions And The Future of Innovation With Scott Anthony - TWMJ #1006
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1006 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). Disruption isn’t always loud. It’s often quiet, slow and deeply human. That’s one of the lessons has spent his career unpacking. As a leading voice on innovation and the managing partner emeritus at (the consultancy founded by the late ), Scott has helped global companies navigate the uncertainty that comes with change. He si currently a Clinical Professor of Strategy at 's . His latest book, , reframes how we think about progress through stories that stretch from gunpowder to generative AI,...
info_outlineWelcome to episode #987 of Six Pixels of Separation - The ThinkersOne Podcast.
Cindy Anderson is on a mission to bring clarity, standards, and serious business impact to thought leadership. As Global Lead for Engagement & Eminence at IBM’s Institute for Business Value and the Global Thought Leadership Institute, Cindy has spent years leading one of the most ambitious research efforts ever undertaken on this topic. The result is her new book, The ROI of Thought Leadership – Calculating the Value That Sets Organizations Apart, co-authored with Anthony Marshall. In it, Cindy reveals what more than 4000 C-level executives told IBM about how they consume, value, and act on thought leadership, and why some content drives sales while most gets ignored. In this conversation, we unpack what truly makes someone a thought leader, why AI is simultaneously diluting and accelerating the field, and what it means to play at the top of the marketing funnel with 156% ROI on the line. This isn’t about personal branding... it’s about strategic business outcomes. We also explore how trust, frequency and format shape impact, and what companies must do to avoid audience fatigue. For anyone who creates, funds or is trying to measure thought leadership this one’s essential listening. Enjoy the conversation…
- Running time: 55:18.
- Hello from beautiful Montreal.
- Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.
- Listen and subscribe over at Spotify.
- Please visit and leave comments on the blog - Six Pixels of Separation.
- Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.
- Check out ThinkersOne.
- or you can connect on LinkedIn.
- ...or on X.
- Here is my conversation with Cindy Anderson.
- The ROI of Thought Leadership – Calculating the Value That Sets Organizations Apart.
- Institute for Business Value.
- Global Thought Leadership Institute.
- Anthony Marshall.
- Follow Cindy on LinkedIn.
Chapters:
(00:00) - Introduction to Thought Leadership and Its Importance.
(03:00) - Challenges in Measuring Thought Leadership ROI.
(05:52) - Defining Thought Leadership: Evidence-Based Intelligence.
(09:03) - The Role of Consultants in Thought Leadership.
(11:55) - The Impact of Generative AI on Thought Leadership.
(15:04) - Commercialization and Standards in Thought Leadership.
(18:00) - The Future of Thought Leadership in a Noisy World.
(29:37) - The Eighth P of Marketing: Thought Leadership.
(32:27) - ROI of Thought Leadership: A Game Changer.
(36:08) - The Role of Presentation in Thought Leadership.
(39:43) - Engagement and Sharing: The Dynamics of Thought Leadership.
(48:52) - Trust in Thought Leadership: Building Credibility.
(51:04) - The Importance of Frequency and Velocity in Thought Leadership.
(55:14) - Establishing Trust and Credibility in a Distrustful World.